44-'3| 







Class _E^4=i^- 



n 



Book_L^^ 



CASSIUS M. CLAY, and GERRIT SMITH. 

A I^etter of Cassius M. Ciay, of Lexingrton, Ky., to 
tlae Mayor of Dayton, C, with a Review of it 
by Oeriit Smitli, of Petertooro, JV. Y, 

PUBLISHED BY JACKSON & CHAPLIN. 

Lexington, Ky., March 20, 1S44. 
W. J. McKINNEY, Esq., Mayor of Dayton, Ohio. 

Dear Sir: Your letter of February 15th last, was in due 
time received, and 1 have waited thus long with the intention 
of not answering it at all: because, as 1 am a private citizen, 
not seeking office at the hands of the People, it might seem to 
place me in the presumptuous attitude of attempting to influ- 
ence, by mere weight of opinion, the votes of my countrymen 
in their choice of President : when neither my age, experience, 
nor fame, warranted the assumption. But since the reception 
of your letter, I have received many of similar import, from 
Liberty men and Anti. Slavery Whigs in most of the Northern 
States, pressing upon me an expression of opinion, in such a 
manner that I should prove false to that spirit of candor which 
I proudly cherish as characteristic of the principles which I 
advocate, did I, through any affectation of humility, remain 
longer silent. 

You ask me, "Will you, if you live and are able to vote at 
the approaching Presidential election, vote for Henry Clay 
for President ? If the Third Party, or Liberty men, should 
have an Electoral Ticket in your State, would you vote that 
ticket in preference? Were you a citizen of Ohio, which of 
these tickets would you vote ?" 

The last two questions are such as would require various 
other suppositions to be made, before I could give a suitable 
answer in justice to myself and all the parties concerned, 
which would be too voluminous for the space of a single let- 
ter : and, for all practical purposes, they will be sufficiently- 
answered in my reply to the first question : that, It is my most 



<;^^> 

^(;^(.^ 



decided determination ^Ho vote for Henry Clay for Presi. 
dent." Men never have and never will, in all cases, think 
alike: all (Government is necessarily a sacrifice, to some ex- 
tent, of individual will : that is the best Go^*ernment to each 
individual which fosters or allows the most of what that indi- 
vidual believes to be conducive to his best interests. The 
question then is not, ' Can I find some man to vote for among 
seventeen millions, who thinks in all respects as myself?' but, 
* Who is the man, all things present and remote considered, 
that will most probably be able by success to give effectuation 
to those great measures which 1 deem conducive to my wel- 
fare, and the welfare of my whole country V This question 
every voter in the Republic must determine for himself: For 
myself, after looking calmly upon ail the surrounding circum- 
stances, Conscience, Patriotism, and (if otliers prefer the term) 
enlightened self-interest, constrain me to vote for Henry Clay. 

The Tariff, the Currency, the Lands, Economy, Executive 
and Ministerial Responsibility, and many other interests, all 
depend, in my humble judgment, on Mr. (Clay's election for 
beneficial determination. And if he is elected, the decision 
of 1840 passed by the People, will be confirmed, and the pol- 
icy of the country settled. Then, and (such is the anarchy 
of the public mind) not till then, shall we have time to look 
about us, and project that otter great reform, the reduction of 
American Slavery to its constitutional limits, and to concen- 
trate the united condemnation of the civilized world to its 
tinal and utter extinction. 

Mr. Clay is indeed a Slaveholder — I wish he were not. 
Yet it does not become me, who have so lately ceased to be a 
Slaveholder myself, to condemn him. It is not my province 
to defend Mr. Clay ; this he is abundantly able to do himself. 
It remains with posterity to determine how much shall be due 
him for the glorious impulse his fervent spirit has given to 
Liberty throughout the world : and with them also to say, how 
much shall be subtracted from this appreciation, for his only 
having failed to do all that could be done in this holy cause. 
Cyrus, Themistocles, Plato, Cato, Aristides, Demosthenes, 
Cincinnatus, and Cicero, sacrificed to base heathen gods : yet 
no man, because they knew not the true God, will say that 
they were not religious, great, good, and patriotic men. T. 
B. Macaulay, one of the most acute and enlightened men of 
this or any era, in his review of the life of Francis Bacon, 
justly says : 

«* We should think it unjust to call St, Louis a wicked man 
because, in an age in which toleration was generally regar- 



ded as a sin, he persecuted heretics. We should think it un- 
just to call Cowper's friend, John Newton, a hypocrite and a 
monster, because, at a time when the slave-trade was com- 
monly considered by the most respectable people as an inno- 
cent and beneficial traffic, he went, largely provided with 
hymn-books and handcutfs, on a Guinea voyage. An im- 
moral action being in a particular society generally consider- 
ed as innocent, is a good plea for an individual who being 
one of that society, and having adopted the notions which 
prevail among his neighbors, commits that action." 

I cannot, then, because Mr. Clay is a slaveholder, in a com- 
munity where the whole Christian Church of all denomina- 
tions — the only professed teachers of morals among the people 
— are also slaveholders, proscribe him, for that single thing 
of difTerence between us. 

In saying thus much in justification of my course in voting 
for Mr. Claj'^, I should be fnlse to my own reputation, ungrate- 
ful to that large portion of Anti-Slavery men who have sym- 
pathized with me in my feeble efforts in the cause of Univer- 
sal Liberty, and recreant to that glorious cause itself, if 1 did 
not avow my belief that the time is near at hand when public 
sentiment will not, ought not, and cannot hold the Slavehold- 
er guiltless — Yes, I will go yet farther, and declare, in the 
name of the Christian Religion and our Republican Institu- 
tions, based professedly on the principle of 'the greatest good 
to the greatest number,' that no man, after the next Presiden- 
tial election, when so much light shall have been shed upon 
this subject, should be deemed fit to rule over a Republican, 
Christian people, who shall violate, by holding slaves, the 
only true principles upon which either Christianity or Repub- 
licanism can stand the test of philosophical scrutiny for a 
single moment. 

In conclusion, in refutation of the slanders of the Washing 
ton Globe, which are ever harmless where that print is known, 
in justice to Mr. Clay, and in vindication of my own self- 
respect, you will allow me to say, that my opinions and action 
upon the subject of Slavery are all my own ; that, however 
much I ma}^ esteem Mr. Clay as a man, a statesman, and a 
friend — though I may regard him as one of the most frank, 
noble, practical, wise, eloquent, and patriotic of those who, in 
this or any other age, have assumed to govern a great Nation, 
the Editor of the Globe but makes exhibition of his own igno- 
ble spirit, when he insinuates that Henry Clay would play a 
double part to deceive the American People, by dictating to 
me, or that I, humble as I may be in the estimation of my 



country, would be used by him, or any other man, or set of 
men, for any dishonorable purpose, or be treated with upon 
any other terms than those of absolute equality. 

Trusting that your wishes, as well as the purposes of those 
persons who have done me the honor to address me by letter 
upon this subject, will be best subserved by making this an- 
swer public, I send it at once to the press. 

Respectfully vour obedient servant, 

C. M. CLAY. 

P. S. Reform, in Jeremy Bentham's day, was termed " in- 
novation;" this owl-faced age has improved in this respect, — 
now "fanaticism" is the word — a strong word — yet when will 
Americans learn it ? There is a still stronger word than this, 
— " Truth.^' If there be really in all this wide Union, a sin- 
gle man of the McDuffie school, of good sense, cool, calcula- 
ting, quick in the discernment of the "pith o' things," and 
above all no "enthusiast," let him read Thomas Carlyle's 
*^ Sphinx'^ in the "Past and Present," and then tell us wheth- 
er there be a " Sphinx^^ also in America, and solve us the 
riddle! The description covers four pages — will not the 
»« land of tracts" look to it ? C. M. C. 



Peteeboro, March 29, 1844. 
CASSiUS M, CLAY, Esq. 

My Dear Sir : I have, this day, read your letter to the 
Mayor of Dayton. So, notwithstanding you had forfy thou- 
sand dollars in slaves, and a slaveholding reputation and in- 
fluence, which money could not measure, you have surrender- 
ed all, and ceased to be a slaveholder ! God be praised for 
this glorious triumph of the truth, which American abolition- 
ists have been inculcating, for the last twelve years ! God 
be praised for having made them willing to sutler so much 
loss, and to count not even their lives dear unto themselves, 
for the sake of inculcating it ! And thrice blessed be you— . 
and you will be — for having yielded to its power ! No victor 
so happy, be his conquests never so numerous and extolled, as 
he, who suffers himself to be conquered by truth. Such a 
one is, indeed, the greatest of conquerors. His captivity is 
the establishnient in his own soul of the supremacy of virtue 
over vice-^of right over wrong. It is the matchless victory 
pf gaining the rule over one's own spirit. 

I welcome your letter, not only because it condemns slave. 



^h It^"^ ; Tf '^ ""' '" "^"^''"-^ ^" republicanism and 
chnshanity; but because it lays down the principle, (hat a 
slaveholder IS untit to be a civil ruler. I wish, that the North- 
em political and religious press concurred with vou, in this 
latter respect. But, even the New York Tribun^-vour fa^. 
vorite newspaper, to which you sent the letter lyinff be 

nl'f n'^r'^"',^'"'^-^"'*" arguments against this principle", 
that the slaveholder is unworthy of civil office. I am very 
sorry to observe, that, even in your own mind, this principle 
IS not one of entirely universal applicability. You plead for 
an exception to it : a single exception, it is true : and such an 
exception, as, I own, it seems rather ungracious to blame you 
for pleading for. Henry Clay is your kinsman, neighbor, 
friend. He has stood by you, and given you efTective help 
m your most memorable perils. He is, withal, the leader, 
not to say idol, of that party, from which you are not yet ful- 
Jy weaned. Now, that, in these circumstances, you'should 
purpose to vote for him, is, indeed, a fault—but a fault, ^o 
mitigated by those circumstances, that none, and, especially, 
they, who are the subjects of the admiration, gratitude, and 
love, excited by the emancipation of your numerous slaves, 
can find it easy to fix their eye upon, very steadily or sternly. 
And, what alleviates this fault still farther, is, that it is only 
ior once more, you would have even Henry Clay voted for 
Your proscription of slaveholders is to extend to him also, af! 
ter the next Presidential Election. The dispensation of re- 
publicans and christians to vote for a buyer and seller of men 
even though he be Henry Clay himself, you would have cease, 
next November. 

Your letter will be of immense service to the Anti-SIavery 
cause. Such testimony of one of the noblest minds of the 
South against slavery— testimony, no longer contradicted by 
your slaveholdmg; but sustained, proven to be deeply sincere, 
and made solemn and impressive, by the emancipation of your 
slaves, will tell upon every Northern neighborhood. And even 
the declaration of your purpose tocastyourvote forHenry Clay 
will work far less injury than many fear. For 1st, that vote is 
too obvious a violation of your own admitted principles, and 
too obvious an inconsistency with yourself, to carry much in. 
fluence with it. 2d, it will be regarded as a yielding to the 
pressure of circumstances and to human weaknesses, rather 
than as the conclusion of wise, deliberate, unbiassed reason, 
ings. 8d, those amongst us, who are hunting for excuses 
for their intended vote for Henry Clay, will not find any in 
your intention to vote for him. That you, his neighbor, 

a* 



6 

warm personal friend, and relative, should be irresistibly 
tempted to vote for him, is a fact, having no apphcation to 
themselves— having no application to persons in circumstan- 
ces so totally unlike your own. 

Nevertheless, a little harm will mingle with the great good 
of your letter. We have a class of Abolitionists who are 
called, " The just-this-once men." They generally vote the 
anti-slavery ticket ; but, occasionally, the intoxicating expe- 
dients of the pro-slavery parties prevail over their too easy 
principles, and they beg the privilege of voting, «just this 
once," with those parties— of bowing down agam, "just this 
once," in the ^' House of Rimmon." It is true, that many ot 
the causes of your voting for Henry Clay are to be found in 
your peculiar circumstances, and are, therefore, without any 
bearing on the persons of whom I speak. Notwithstanding, 
when they read your letter, and see, that you reserve to your, 
self the privilege of going, "just this once," in opposition to 
the principle of anti-slavery voting, they will be but too apt 
to feel, that they now have the authority of an eminently wise 
and upright man to justify the departure from it, of which 
they are themselves occasionally guilty. In vam, will it be 
for us to remind them, that your opposition to this principle 
is to be but for once ; and that theirs has already been repeat- 
ed. They will reply, that, the first time they violated this 
principle, they were as sure, that they should not violate it 
again, as Cassius M. Clay now is, that his adherence to it 
will never relax, after the next election. 

I observe your two excuses for casting a pro-slavery vote, 
at the coming election. One is, that darkness prevails, in 
respect to the character and criminality of slavery; and that 
light will not take the place of this darkness, unti after the 
election is past. Be it so, notwithstanding I totally fail to 
understand it, that the next election will prove to be the divi- 
ding line between darkness and light on this subject;— never- 
theless, how will this give you, in whom "the darkness is past 
and the true light now shineth," the right to cast a pro-slavery 
vote, at that election? If all other men are, your letter shows, 
that vou are not ignorant, that it is wrong to make a slave- 
holder a civil ruler. And, if, in their ignorance, all other 
men vote for a slaveholder, I know not what right you have 
to vote in their darkness, rather than in your own light ; and 
to make their ignorance, rather than your own knowledge, 
the standard of your conduct, if, in the providence of God, 
your mind has been singled out for illumination by His truin, 
are you at liberty to defer to a benighted majority, and to act, 



as it acts ? I am aware, that Judge L. of Missouri denies the 
right to call in question the conduct of the inajoruy : but I 
am also aware, that a higher authority than Judge L. says: 
"Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. So far from 
vour beina at liberty to act, in the supposed case, as the majority 
acts • you are to regard the revelation of truth to your mind 
as your commission and obligation to employ this truth for the 
enlightenment of that majority. 

From the doctrine of your letter, that good men can, through 
iirnorance, live even in great sins, few Abolitionists will be 
found to dissent. But you will pardon me for not being^ble 
to perceive, that either this doctrine, or your quotation from 
Macaulav, which, 1 cheerfully admit, serves to justify it, has 
any pertinence whatever to the question before us— has any 
bearino- whatever on the point of voting. I find no fault with 
vou fo? intimating, that Henry Clay is ignorant of the moral 
nature of slaveholding. 1 find no fault with you for number, 
incrhim, as you impliedly do, with "religious, great, good, 
and patriolic"'men." But what I contend for is, that you have 
no more ri^^ht to vote for him, under the supposition, that he 
does not know the sinfulness of slavery— no more right to vote 
for him under the supposition, that he is a great and good, than 
under the supposition, that he is a little and bad man— no 
more rit^ht to vote for him, under the supposition, that he is a 
Ghristi^n, than under the supposition, thu.t he is an infidel. 
And, in this connection, i would say, that the leading consid- 
eration of the Abolitionist in his vote is extensively misappre- 
bended. Tens of thousands of persons suppose, that the Ab- 
olitionist, in his bigotry and narrowness, votes for his candr- 
date, because he thinks him sinless ; and withholds his vote 
from rival candidates, because he thinks them sinners. But, 
thev are mistaken. The Abolitionist passes by pro-slavery 
tickets, not because the names on them are the names of sin- 
ners, but because they are the names of men, who, whether 
saints or sinners, will, if elected, refuse to wield their official 
power for the overthrow of slavery. He prefers the anti- 
slavery ticket, not because its names are those of sinless men, 
but because they are the names of men, who, hov/ever imper- 
fect their practices or principles, will, if elected, use their 
office, as far as they constitutionally can, to deliver the land 
from the curse of slavery. In all this the Abolitionist exhib- 
its good sense. When I am choosing a man to act for me, 1 
must see to it, that 1 make choice of one, who will act upoii, 
and act out, my own principles. When 1 am voting to fill 
the office, which has power to grant, or withhold, licenses for 



8 



making drunkards, I am to concern myself, not so much about 
the genera rel.g.ous character of the candda.es°as about lie 
question of Ihe.r faithfulness to the principles of temperance 
So too when I am votin.. ,o fill the office' of Presided of iT; 
IJni.ed States, „ ,s an insufficient excuse for my pro. laverv 
vote to say, as you virtually do: "Tlie man f„r',v^ „„^ ' 

S'L'd ;:,ri:^.^r.'^'^' ™°'^"-^- -ehgiou.great, 

fnr^ iT"' "' ' u""' ^^■'"^" '*"> '■""""^ "f «ne of v-our excuses 
for yoting ,or Henry Clay. The other is, that iie is sound 
in respect to several questions in political econl" ° Tct 
you enumerate, and that his election is important to" the pio 
per disposal of these questions. Now, I will, ,f y^u njease 
admit all (hat you claim for Henry Clay cincerniJthX' 
questions: and yet, yourself being judgeLvmir own Lto 
being my a„thonty-he is not entitled to von'r vole I know 
tha your letter says, that the election of Henry c1;y Ltd tlTo 
proper disposnot these questions, are necessary to p leVue 
he way for .riumphant action against slavery ; and, fallow 

for vo ng for him. Hut. I know too, that your letter "]t 

hrwifla , ' 'th^tT'"'"' r f'-'^"^'^" «'■'" 'I'e next election^ 
ne will, and, tliat,Joo, whatever may be the result of such 
e ec.ion-however unfavorable, in your eyes, its learinron 
the economical questions referred to-be unworthy of th"e of" 
fice of a civil ruler I put it to you then,dear sir, kindly, but i 

esist.bIy,whetherInee,lsummonanyotherwitn'essto ti'est id" 
than yourself, to prove the emptiness of this other excuse for 
your vote for Henry Clay, and to deprive you of even a show 
But 'iris"h ', "" ''""' '■"^ ""■■^' =>" ""justifiable vote 

ami in', e nr" 1 " T " '"'■■" ^°' '"^ °>''" condemnation- 
ami in the present instance, entirely unnecessary, lour ex 
cuse can easily be shown to be unsound, wiiliout o lotin; 
JheTsITV'"r'\ '' •=-''"''°'' ■<"• - moment? abidf 

If tl s and but n f ^- ' k""""" "°' "" ^''"''°™ chris'tianity 
or till, land, but the pure Christianity of the Bible 

in in ri "°' ^^r:^"^"" "'^ ''^a^' '•'S'" of 'lie least being 

m all His universe. To believe that He does, is to belie"! 

fon^de^n "T*' ""^ i" '^''''"y "^^ '''y '•""ndation of our 
confidence in Him. 2d. All men should feel, that they are 
His servan s, and that their conduct must harmon zfwith 
H.S principles and character. The Bible, declares "mparUal 
.ty to be an attribute not of God only, but also (M Jv 45 ) 



9 

of all them, who are counted worthy to be Elis children. 3d. 
When then we barter away tlie great, original, inherent, rights 
of one man for another man's more secure possession of such 
rights ; and, most emphatically, when we take these sacred 
rights from one man, and barter them away for the promotion 
of the mere pecuniary interests of another, we outrage some 
of the plainest principles of the Divine government, and prove 
ourselves to be Atheists and rebels, instead of the servants of 
God. 4th. But, is not the willingness of certain anti-slavery 
men to elect a slaveholder to the Presidency, provided his 
views, in respect to the Tariff and other financial measures, 
agree with their own, red with the guilt of the worst kind of 
such a barter ? Do they not virtually say : " We will con- 
sent to leave the slaves of the District of Columbia and of the 
Territory of Florida in their chains, for the sake of securing 
an improvement in the pecuniary circumstances of the whites? 
— for the sake of it in our own circumstances?" Thousands 
of professing Christians are, this day, defending such compro- 
mises, and declaring them to be indispensable. But, before I 
can be convinced, that men can innocently, and must necessa- 
rily, practice such compromises, 1 must be convinced, that God 
is so great a bungler, as not to be able to carry on His gov- 
ernment, without invading the rights of some of His subjects. 
1 see, that you approvingly quote the maxim: " The great- 
est good of the greatest number." The frequent repetition of 
this maxim in the celebrated letters of " O. P. Q." written, a 
dozen years ago, in the city of Paris, gave it a fresh and in- 
creased popularity. But, the maxim is no less false than pop- 
ular. Christianity requires "the greatest good of the wliola 
number." It is in accordance with this maxim, that the indi- 
vidual is so often sacrificed in answer to the claims of society. 
Society has proved itself to be a bloody Moloch, on whose al- 
tar millions of individuals have been slain. It is in accord- 
ance with this maxim, that nations give up millions of indi- 
viduals to be slaughtered on the battle field. And this same 
maxim is the justifying plea of slavery for crushing millions 
in its iron folds. Would that the practice under this maxim 
did not exceed its letter ! But, like every other permitted 
wrong, it transcends its prescribed limits. A community sets 
out to promote "the greatest good of the greatest number," 
hy means of the sacrifice of a small number. But, soon how- 
ever, the foul and murderous wrong grows into the policy of 
benefitting a select and aristocratic few, at the expense of the 
many. Who will deny, that it has already thus increased 
Qnd magnified itself in South Carolina, Mississippi, and Lou- 



10 

isiana, in each of which States the slave population exceeds 
the free? — the sacrificed the sacrificers ? 

Gocl be praised for the plain teaching of His word, that one 
man's rights stand not in the way of another's — that one man's 
happiness interferes not with another's — tlmt every man is 
every other man's brother — nay more, that every man is bound 
to see in every other man another self. My friend, my broth- 
er, from the bottom of my heart do I commend to you this 
plain teaching. You have — and blessed be God for it ! — you 
have begun to drink of its spirit. Drink deeper of it ; and 
you will then be prepared to say, that, come what will of 
Banks and Tariffs, and other dollars and cents questions, you 
will never again vote power over the slave into the hands of 
the slaveholder. Drink deeper of it ; and you will then re- 
gard all such questions, as but « the small dust of the bal- 
ance," compared with personal rights. Drink deeper of it ; 
and you will then be ready to admit, that ihe least right of 
the least inf^mt amongst the tens of thousands of our fellow 
immortals, whom slavery treads under foot in the District of 
Columbia and in Florida, and who are thus trodden on with 
the express approbation of our General Government and of 
Henry Clay, is entitled to an infinitelv more solicitous pro- 
tection, at the hands of that Governme'nt and of Henry Clay, 
than are all the pecuniary interests of all the nation. 

1 rejoice, that you did not find it in your heart to give a 
negative answer to the question, whether, if you were a citi- 
zen of Ohio, you would vote the Liberty Party Electoral- tick- 
et ; or to the question, whether, if there were'such a ticket in 
your own Stale, you would vote it. Liberty will,probabl3^ have 
no ticket in Kentucky, the present year. If she should have, 
you would find it much harder to refuse to vote it, than to vote 
for Henry Clay. Would, my dear Sir, that you might experi- 
ence such a baptism of the spirit of Libertv,as should make you 
willing to cast a solitary vote for her ! Would that she might 
irresistibly impel you to compose a vote of the names of black 
men, if there are not white men — ay, of slaves even, if there 
are not freemen, in your State, to represent your anti-slavery 
principles. Posterity would accord more honor to you for 
casting such a vote, than to your distinguished namesake for 
the most triumphant success of his highest ambition. 

Pardon me, dear Sir, that I have so freely expressed the 
concern of my heart, respecting the character of your vote. 
Take, if you please, in return, the like liberty with me and 
the anti-slavery men of the North. Tell us, how you would 
have us vote. If you shall not vote an anti-slavery electoral 



11 

ticket next Fall, you will have the excuse, that no such ticket 
was nominated in Kentucky. But, if we shall not vote one, 
it will not be for such a lack, and we shall not have such an 
excuse. There will be anti-slavery electoral tickets in all 
the free States. Shall we vote them ? 1 anticipate your 
emphatic affirmative reply. Were we not to vote them, your 
heart would grieve bitterly over oim- unfaithfulness to the 
cause, which is dearer to you than any other cause. If you 
shall not vote an anti.slavery ticket, another of vour excuses, 
as we have seen, will be, that you dwell in the mkht of great 
darkness respecting slavery. But, if we shall not— we, who 

hve where floods of light are poured forth on this subject 

you would yourself be among the very first to reproach us 
with our utterly excuseless "fellowship with the works of 
darkness." If you shall not vote an anti.slavery ticket next 
Fall, you will, as we have already said your letter informs us, 
make as much of an excuse, as you can, out of the fact, that 
you voted in accordance with your views on the Tariff and 
certain other questions in political economy. But, it by no 
means follows, that you would have us turn away from our 
anti.slavery tickets to vote for men, who will represent our 
views on such questions. All of us have sympathy with the 
VVhigsor Democrats on these questions— a part with one 
and a part with the other; and, therefore, were our votes to 
follow this sympathy, there would be no Liberty Party left 
It would be reabsorbed by those parties, from which we came 
out— and from which we came out for the very reason, that 
they allow these questions to come into competition with, and 
even to merge, the claims of the slave. The Liberty Party 
which you had the honesty and courage so recently' to eulo 
gizeina public meeting in your own State, would then be 
wrecked and ruined. The American anti.slavery cause would 
then have perished from the treachery of its own friends I 
know, that from such inevitable consequences of our sufferinff 
the consideration of dollars and cents, instead of that of in- 
alienable human rights, to govern our votes, your spirit recoils, 
as promptly and as widely, as our own; and, that, whilst yoii 
are yourself yielding to the peculiar and strong temptations 
to leave your own duty undone, you bid us go forward and 
manftilly do ours. Rest assured, my dear Sir, that we shall 
not disobey such nghfeous instructions. If you can afford 
to cast one more pro-slavery vote, we cannot. We have re 
pented too sorely of our past voting against the slave, that we 
should ever again repeat the enormous crime. And, besides, 
we have stood by hira too long, that we should now forsake 



12 

him. We will continue to hold up the standard of freedom, 
as well as such feeble ones can. Next Autumn will witness 
your last sin against your enslaved brethren; and then your 
strong hands will also grasp that standard ; and then, too, 
thousands and tens of thousands will flock to it, under the in. 
spiration of your example. Slavery will succeed in the ap- 
proaching election. A .slaveholder, or a guiltier servant of 
slavery, will then be elected to the Chief Magistracy. But, 
one consolation under so painful a conclusion is, that this will 
be the last national political triumph of tliis system of match- 
less fraud and horrors. The Presidential election, four years 
hence, if indeed God shall spare our guilty nation so long, 
will write upon our standard : " Jehovah has triumphed — His 
people are free." I am, dear Sir, with jrreat regard, your 
friend, GERRIT SMITH. 



TRACTS! TRACTS!! TRACTS!!! 
N. Y. S. ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 

We have in our Office at present the following Tracts; and shall publish 
monthly, or oftener, during the summer, as the wants of the cause may in- 
dicate. We publish of ftco sices. 

Four Page size — ^^Twelve Pages for one Cent. 

CAUSK OF THE HARD TIMES. 

INFLUENCE OF THE SLAVE POWER. 

DANIEL O'CONNELL'S SPEECH. 

LAWLESSNESS OF SLAVERY. 

SHALL SLAVERY LAST FOREVER? 

REVIEW OF JUNIUS. 

New England Tracts. 

PERSONS HELD TO SERVICE. 

THE TYRANT PAUPERS. 

THE MIS.SOURI COMPROMISE. 

THE COMPACT. 

BIBLE POLITICS. 

DON'T THROW AWAY YOUR VOTE. 

THE RIGHT SORT OF POLITICS. ■ 1 

Eight Page size— Eight Pages for one Cent. 

O'CONNELL'S LETTER TO CIN. REPEALERS. 

DUTIES iSt DIGNITIES OF AMERICAN FREEMEN. ! 

CONDITION OF LIVING. 

THE DUELIST. 
We solicit orders from all parts of the countiy. We shall keep on hand 
all the Tracts of the New England Tract Association, and shall furnish those 
who may order at the New England price. Terms: CASH IN ALL CAS»i.S. 

JAMES C. JACKSON, 

Cor, Sec'y of the N. Y. S. Anti^Slavery Society. 
Utica, April, 1844. 



